Eric Topol, leading physician/scientist, named executive vice president of Scripps Research

Seeking to communicate its science better to the public, help shape biomedical policy and raise needed funding, The Scripps Research Institute on Monday named Dr. Eric Topol as executive vice president.

Topol, a prominent cardiologist-geneticist, said he was recruited by Scripps Research president Peter G. Schultz to raise the institute’s profile. Fellow scientists rate the institute as among the best in the world, but outside the scientific world it isn’t as prominent.

“We’re going to do a far better job in (explaining) things we do that have a public interest,” said Topol, who has been on the faculty of Scripps Research for more than a decade. “I'll be helping with philanthropy and oversight in my new role as executive vice president. I'll be working very closely with Peter Schultz in mapping the future course.”

Topol retains his position as director of Scripps Translational Science Institute. Now part of Scripps Research, the translational science institute had previously been a unit of the Scripps Health hospital system. Topol retains his medical practice at Scripps Health, but said most of his work will now be performed in his Scripps Research capacity.

Meanwhile, Scripps Translational Science Institute will continue to collaborate with Scripps Health and other existing partners.

National voice

The institute also needs to get more money for its endowment, and philanthropic donations are part of the vision. It has frequently operated at a deficit in recent years. While cushioned by an endowment for the near future, the institute faces financial challenges over the long term.

Telling the Scripps Research story will help, Topol said. In addition, the institute wants to make its voice heard in national issues affecting biomedical science.

To bolster the institute’s outreach, Topol said he has recruited other communications specialists from the nearby Salk Institute.

“I’m absolutely convinced we have a top-notch team,” Topol said.

Molecules to medicine

Topol also brings a vast amount of clinical knowledge, which fits with Schultz’s goal of more quickly turning research into helping patients. And Topol has already worked extensively with the institute, bridging the worlds of academic science and applied medicine.

Topol is also famous as a digital medicine pioneer, publicizing applications that once seemed exotic but have since become part of mainstream medicine. He gained national notice in 2012 for using a smartphone-equipped device to diagnose a heart attack while on board a plane in flight.

Bringing Scripps Translational Science Institute under the wing of Scripps Research will further that goal of reaching patients, he said.

“Scripps Research was largely known as a kind of basic science institute, but with our integration it really spans the gamut from molecules to medicine,” Topol said.

The Food and Drug Administration has launched a crackdown on clinics hawking stem cell treatments for a range of ailments. (September 1, 2017) (Sign up for our free video newsletter here http://bit.ly/2n6VKPR)

The Food and Drug Administration has launched a crackdown on clinics hawking stem cell treatments for a range of ailments. (September 1, 2017) (Sign up for our free video newsletter here http://bit.ly/2n6VKPR)

CAPTION

Researchers used eggs from healthy females and the sperm of a man who carried a gene mutation that causes inherited hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. (Aug. 3, 2017) (Sign up for our free video newsletter here http://bit.ly/2n6VKPR)

Researchers used eggs from healthy females and the sperm of a man who carried a gene mutation that causes inherited hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. (Aug. 3, 2017) (Sign up for our free video newsletter here http://bit.ly/2n6VKPR)